The Silver Jews

Aloysius, Bluegrass Drummer

The Silver Jews


Aloysius was a bluegrass drummer
He was just a normal kid
Blooming, tripping flowing under
Just as I once did

At a 24 hour restaurant
Open to the end of time
He was washing dishes there
When he met brick butterfly

She was a no age singer for a country act
Working at a region ten
She was all strung out on hard street fat
But he didn’t know it then

First a look then a spark
Sound of Velcro in the dark
His heart is spinning like a bicycle wheel
She and he laid the stems down flat
In the middle of a field

Brick butterfly had a history
of sleeping with the kitchen staff
She was a hardcore gobbler
and longtime guzzler of hydrogenated crap

Suet, tallow, liquid squeals
great mounds of plastic lard
That’s what she got the lad to steal
on the night that he got fired

Aloysius woke at five am
the hungry girl was gone
There was blood in the bedding
forks in the ceiling
And bones all over the lawn

Like any strong young poet would
He packed his bags for region ten
I guess now I know him less than I ever knew him then
Yes I guess I know him even less than I ever knew him then